Many people travel or commute from one point to another. When they do, most people use luggage to transport their clothing and other personal items. For most consumers, the size of the luggage and spatial efficiency of the compartments therein is very important because if the user is required to take a significant amount of items he or she may need to take more than one piece of luggage. This is not only extremely inconvenient, but it also may result in additional bag fees by transportation carriers.
Some users attempt to solve this problem by utilizing compression, or vacuum bags in conjunction with the luggage. In this vein, many users place their articles in a compression bag, remove the air within using a vacuum at the user's residence or place of abode, and pack those vacuum bags in his or her luggage. This comes with an obvious disadvantage of having to find a vacuum at his or her destination and, if no vacuum is found, attempt to pack an excessive amount of items in the luggage, discard those items that don't fit, buy a vacuum that is then required to be packed or thrown away, or buy another piece of luggage.
Some known assemblies attempt to solve the aforementioned problem by using an integrated vacuum bag that has its air removed to seal the contents within via vacuum assembly installed on the luggage. As the vacuum bag is integrated, it extremely limits the user's versatility in choosing different sizes of bags for different items. Additionally, many users desire to only have some items compressed due to the type of item being packed. Further, many of these luggage assemblies require alignment of a piece of the vacuum assembly with a portion of the vacuum bag in order for the system, i.e., vacuum, to function properly. As such, the alignment of the vacuum bag with the piece of the luggage can be become an arduous and time-intensive task.
Many vacuum assemblies that utilize a vacuum also have structure associated with that vacuum assembly that is exposed on the outer surface, or otherwise increases the surface area of width of the luggage. As such, the vacuum assembly is prone to striking other structures during use, thereby increasing the probability of damaging the vacuum assembly or the structural integrity of the luggage itself, both of which are extremely problematic. Having a piece of luggage that is readily identifiable as having a vacuum assembly is also disadvantageous because of the increase probability of theft.
Another disadvantage with many known luggage assemblies is that they do not provide the user the ability to charge their phones or other electronic devices. This is extremely important to many users who travel and do not have access to electrical outlets. If any luggage assemblies do provide the user with the ability to charge his or her phone, that charging unit is a stand-alone system that does not utilize a pre-existing power supply operating a vacuum assembly, thereby generating a device that is cost, space, and energy efficient.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.